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I have no problem with understanding the people 🙄 BANGKOK, Thailand – Until two weeks ago, Smith Thammasaroj (search) was a prophet without honor. As chief of Thailand's meteorological department in 1998, he was accused of scare-mongering when he warned that the country's southwest coast could face a deadly tsunami. He retired under a shadow, dismissed as a crackpot, accused of causing panic and jeopardizing a critical tourist industry that grew up around the tropical resort island of Phuket (search). Today, Smith is being lionized for his foresight after the devastating Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 150,000 people around the region, including 5,300 in Thailand, where 3,600 more are listed as missing. Less than a week after the tragedy, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (search) appointed Smith as a vice minister and put him in charge of the newly established National Disaster Warning Office, which will work with seismologists to establish a tsunami early warning system. Now when Smith speaks, people listen. And he has a new message: The United States must take some of the blame for the grievous number of casualties. The 68-year-old forecaster — who earned a bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the University of Vermont (search) in 1962 — said he believes that if the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (search) had acted quickly enough, many lives could have been saved. Workers at the Hawaii center have said they tried in vain to warn Indian Ocean nations about the possible effects of the earthquake but they were not equipped to monitor that part of the world and didn't even have phone numbers for the right officials. The Hawaii center, set up in 1948, hosts the only regional network of its kind in the world, but is set up solely to monitor Pacific Ocean countries. "I'm not angry at them for failing to warn Thailand, because at that time they did not know for sure, they merely said a tsunami was possible after the earthquake," Smith told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday. But after the giant waves hit southern Thailand, the center had more than an hour to alert India, Bangladesh and the Maldives, "and if they warned those countries, they could have saved thousands of lives," he said. "It's their failure to do so that makes me mad at them," he said. But the Hawaii center denied it could have alerted those nations in time. "We didn't know anything even after the waves hit Thailand," Charles McCreery (search), the center's director, said Tuesday. Scientists at the Hawaii warning center did not learn of the tsunami until several hours later when they read news reports on the Internet about it striking Sri Lanka, McCreery said. "That's well after those waves would have hit all of those places over there that got hit badly," he said. "So there really wasn't the opportunity." Although the center had data on the earthquake, there are no sensors or tide gauges to measure water levels in the Indian Ocean, so there was no way to know if a tsunami had been generated, he said. Smith has been equally critical of his own country's meteorologists. He said earlier that staff at the Meteorological Department working on Dec. 26 knew what was coming but failed to act because they were ignored earlier. "They knew exactly what was going to happen, but they ... were afraid to make a decision, because they believed if they made a wrong forecast they would get blamed," Smith said. The Meteorological Department has said it knew about the earthquake and the possibility that it could trigger a tsunami about an hour before waves began slamming ashore. But they said they had no way to determine the size of the waves — and therefore the threat they posed — and were reluctant to issue a warning without such information because it could harm the tourism industry and anger the government. Smith showed no such reluctance when, as head of the meteorological bureau, he made headlines in 1993 and 1998 with warnings about a possible tsunami. His 1998 warning, which came after an earthquake-triggered tsunami killed more than 2,000 people in Papua New Guinea (search), sent droves of people running for the hills in southern Thailand. But no tsunami hit Thailand, and furious tourism executives and government officials excoriated Smith for his judgment. Thai Predicted Tsunami; No One Listened | Fox News

San Kamphaeng Air Quality Index (AQI) and Thailand Air Pollution | IQAir Hua Hin Air Quality Index (AQI) and Thailand Air Pollution | IQAir Koh Samui Lamai Viewpoint Outdoor Air Quality Index (AQI) and Bo Put Air Pollution | IQAir Mueang Phuket Air Quality Index (AQI) and Thailand Air Pollution | IQAir Toronto Air Quality Index (AQI) and Canada Air Pollution | IQAir

I pay taxes here, as most people do, just as I would in my home country. It is my contribution to the community. Felt

Street racing with motorcycles and regular gang violence in schools is not what I think of as mature😐 Felt

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Quality of Life Index by Country 2024

Standard of Living by Country | Quality of Life by Country 2024

What is so stringent with the alcohol regulations here⁉️I think its look like people can, and get drunk anytime Felt

Ok, then at least I should go clear of that requirement. Felt

Ok many thanks, will call BOI and check. Felt

This thread seems to have several people with mostly good experience with LTR visas, so I allow myself to ask a few questions! If as a retired person with under US 80K annual income but well over US40K but the rest of the finances back home, do I then have to invest / deposit the money in a Thai bank or is it enough to prove that the finances are available? Btw, the insurance US 50K requirement is that totally cover for a year? Thanks Felt

I don't understand why China is so highly regarded by Thais. Look west Thailand Real GDP per capita $22,100 (2023 est.) China $21,100 (2023 est.) Thailand $9,200 (2023 est.) India $63,600 (2023 est.) Germany $54,500 (2023 est.) United Kingdom $72,100 (2023 est.) Denmark $82,600 (2023 est.) Switzerland The World Factbook - The World Factbook

Let alone their own. Felt

Do you know if Viber have a "stand alone" download for windows, i.e.no need for a phone app? Thanks Felt